CURL | Burns Curls for the Fun of It

My journey began what seems like forever ago. I stepped out there and slid a rock 100 feet on some ice. It was fun. The next week I went back to the rink in the Northern Ontario city of Sudbury and did it again. Still, it was fun. Before I knew it, I was curling in bonspiels in Southern Ontario every weekend and practicing my craft daily. In any event, it was fun. The message that my coach gave my team and me from day one was that at the end of the day, "the reason we curl is to have fun" and it resonates with me to this day.  

Anyways, back to my journey. The first obstacle to face of the season was tryouts. The team that I had played with forever and I, decided to try out for Laurentian together. I wouldn't have had it any other way; I love these girls. It worked out wonderfully as we managed to win the tryout tournament and all made the team. From then until March, Voyageur curling was an afterthought as we really focused on our competitive team's success. This seemed to pay off as we finished third in junior nationals, capping off our best season yet.

With the recent success of the competitive team, we entered OUA on a real high with our team chemistry better than any of the other mismatched teams entering. We went in feeling no pressure at all as we thought that at the end of the competitive season we had plateaued with the junior national bronze. This proved to be untrue as we won the OUA bonspiel, guaranteeing us a berth in the USports national event.

Entering the final event of the season, we showed up to the USports bonspiel with one thing in mind; let's have fun.

The round robin had its ups and downs with focus and fun being the two things that we struggled to maintain. The burnout of the long season was finally hitting us. But a 7thdraw victory against St. FX got us a spot in the semis. This semi-final matchup was against the team from Dalhousie that crushed us, 10-1, earlier in the event. We knew that if we brought our game and just had fun that we would be okay. And we did exactly that, beating Dalhousie 8-3. We surprisingly met Lakehead in the final as they beat the undefeated two-time defending champ, Alberta, in their semi-final. This was a great matchup for us because we know the Lakehead girls well as they too are from Northern Ontario. It was going to be a fun matchup. It wasn't until the final rock was thrown that we really realized what we had accomplished; USports gold to Laurentian for the first time since 1991. 

Looking back on this team success, I really don't think it could have been done without any member of the team. Our friendship and team dynamics were absolutely crucial for the teams' success. We knew each other so well and really have fun doing what we do. Hopefully this accomplishment makes an impact for the sport of curling at Laurentian but also in our home city of Sudbury.

Although, the team success was a great feeling. My final message is that sports are fun. 

Written by Kurtis Winrow with contributions from Krysta Burns